The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1887-09-17
DEMOCRATIC MIGWUMPS.


other gentlemen have decided that t
secure clean and honest government i
the State they must reform the Demo
cratic party with club, " and they wi
support the Republican Stat n"mina
tons This is kind and degree of indt
| pendence which are yer, seldom foun
among Democrats, and the action is yer
significant. De m ,cratic discomfort wit
the reform views of the President ha
beer wide spread, and some Democrat
| journals have denounced those views a
threatening trouble in the party. Blu
tho trouble III Maryland has arisen, re
| from the President adherence to thos
views, but to his apparent disregard Q
them. It Is not because the patronag
has not been used as spoils, but hecaus
it has been SO used, that the bolt ha
taken place. The treatment of the civi
service in Maryland has been one of tn,
most mex plicable points in the conduc
| of the Administration. 1t is not explaine'
| by the remark that there is very lIttl
reform sentiment in the State. That fac
does not Justify the appointment of mel
who are VIGOROUSLY unfit. and whose of
fences are matters of judicial record
The report of the special committee o
the National Reform League, published
in the early spring of this year, says:
'In no State of the Union probably ar,
politics more corrupt. Fraud and dis
honesty are especially familiar at elec
tions in Baltimore; but happily there is ;
most intelligent and resolute body of cit
liens CT both parties i'll the State who
persistently expose and courageously re
sist the evil-doers.'
The extraordinary fact is that the whole
force of the Administration has been ap
parently thrown against this effort at re
form, and that the President has beer
inexplicably allied with Senator German
in perpetuating serious political abuses
The situation is not relieved by the as.
sartion that it is a mere contest of Dem
ocratic factions in which one faction uses
the Reform Association as a cat 's-paw
If there be factonal fight in Maryland,
one faction is identified with corruption,
violence, and crime, and the other opposes
them. Why has the Executive apparent
ly upheld the first faction? If it must
take part, why has it taken part against
the friends of reform? The advice OF
Sen;.tor German has evide ltly controlled
the treatment of the civil service in Ma
ryland. His reputation as politician is
notorious. He is a contemptuous enemy
of reform, and the report from which we
have quoted says, decisively:
at is of course absolutely impossible
to reconcile with respect to sound prin-
ciples of reform appointments made in
Difference to the advice or with regard to
the interests of a conspicuous enemy OF
reform, whose unsolicited interference
WAS an unseemly impertinence and con-
times made Notwithstanding the uncon-
tradicted evidence of notorious untitness
submitted to the Executive by trust
worthy and disinterested citizens. 1t is
equally impossible that the political sit
uation i'll Maryland aud the political rep
utation of Senator German should have
that, under the circumstances, the Sena-
tors advice respecting appointments
should have been supposed to be disin-
terested, or to be given chiefly with re-
gard to the public welfare, or with any
intention whatever of promoting reform
in the civil service"
1t is this extraordinary situation in
Maryland which produces the declaration
Of the Republican convention, whose ac-
ton the boiling Democrats propose to
support:
THAT the President of the United
States, by his action in regard to the
Federal appointments i'll this State. has
given conclusive evidence that his profess
sions of civil service reform are hollow
and delusive, and his failure to call the
Federal office holders to account for their
open and shameless disregard of his own
declarations that they should not engage
in efforts to control the political action
of their own party is confession of in
sincerity on his part or a proof that his
will is controlled by the stronger will of
the senior Senator from Maryland.
The trouble for the national Executive
and the Democratic party in Maryland
proceeds, as we say, not from regard for
reform, but from disregard of it. There
are, as we have constantly taken pleasure
in saying, many signal advantages gained
for reform under this Administration.
and it is unreasonable to suppose that
complete reform can be achieved at once.
That is true; but the remark has no per.
Thence whatever to the situation IN
Maryland. That public sentiment must
be educated, that there is little under
standing of reform in Maryland that a
great deal may have been done else
where, that the difficulties are enormous,
and that Rome was not built in a day,
are all sound and true observations, But
not one Of them nor all of them together
furnish any excuse whatever for the ap.
pointment of Higgins, Thomas or Rasin,
or for tolerating their conduct. If there
were no other reason for the existence OF
the Civil Service Reform Association in
Maryland, it would be amply justified
by the service which it has rendered tC
good government and honest politics by
its vigilant scrutiny of all public APP
pointments in that State, and by its
prompt exposure of those that were un
fit to be made. Secretary Bayard, whose
administration of the State Department.
as shown by recent statement in the
EreHihg Post, shows a sincere regard fol
sound principles OF the public service, is
reported recently to have said of critic
of the Administration: He has taker
up this subject as if there were no other
requiring the attention of the respon
sibe Executive of this country" If the
critic has done SO, he has taken a very
narrow view of the subject. But no
body would agree more promptly thar
Secretary Bayard that nothing can re-
quire more lmperatively the attention OF
the responsible Executive than the char
acter and fitness of those whom he Sc